


Of Mediocre Days and Green Tea

by lulumonnie



Series: WLW Ships Because We Deserve More [3]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, Fluff, M/M, Rated T for swearing, Tea shop AU, The obligatory tea shop AU but make it mailee because they deserve more, They're all not straight I make the rules now, Written for Avatar WLW Week 2020, all of the fluff, i cant not write fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-21
Updated: 2020-09-21
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:07:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,232
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26578816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lulumonnie/pseuds/lulumonnie
Summary: The obligatory MaiLee TeaShop AUWritten for the Avatar WLW Week 2020, Day One: Capitalism/Fluff
Relationships: Mai/Ty Lee (Avatar), Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Series: WLW Ships Because We Deserve More [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1915417
Comments: 6
Kudos: 75





	Of Mediocre Days and Green Tea

**Author's Note:**

> I'm basing this tea shop off of the few European tea shops I've been to, so I'm not entirely sure if everything is as authentic as it could be. If there is anything I have missed or misrepresented, please let me know!

Today was already shaping up to be supremely mediocre day, and Mai hadn’t even had her first tea. Tea, not coffee. She had _some_ standards, no matter how much Zuko teased her about her green tea addiction.

‘You’re just as addicted to tea as I am to coffee’, Zuko had told her, Sokka chuckling in the background and looking at his boyfriend with fond eyes. Mai had rolled her eyes and mumbled something about annoying best friends and mushy gay people.

‘Mai, you _are_ gay people’, Sokka had interjected while drawing a rudimentary sketch of Zuko eating a biscuit drenched in coffee. Mai shuddered. Poor fucking biscuit. What would his uncle say?

* * *

Mai felt the need to groan loudly as she unlocked the door to Iroh’s tea shop, shouting a quick greeting out of habit. She’d been working at Iroh’s tea shop for nearly two years now, initially just as a way to get out of the house, away from the boredom and the oppressing coldness of her parents and their fussing over her younger brother. After a few months however, Mai had found herself somewhat enjoying working. Not that costumer service was something she’d actually want to do for the rest of her life, she could definitely do without the annoying costumers asking her for ridiculous drinks and coffee of all things. Coffee. In a tea house. Decorated with all things tea related. There were even tiny _yunomi_ carvings on the tables. Mai would never understand how people would come to a tea shop to order coffee. She could hear Iroh’s voice in her head, saying something about how tea was meant to calm the mind and coffee was just meant to taste like burning charcoal. Mai let a small smile slip as she prepared the tea shop, putting on the open signs and arranging the desks with the green silk table runners, embroidered with golden thread and unlocking the cabinet that held the _chabako_.

She had just finished clearing out the counterspace and started to brew the first pot of her favourite _bancha_ , when the door swung open, the _furin_ hanging just in front of the door chiming in the sudden gust of wind. Mai, who was still turned towards her tea frowned, idly wondering who would come to a tea shop so early in the morning and turned around. Her breath caught as she looked at the girl standing in the door frame, surveying the shop with a bright smile.

She was beautiful. Mai was sure that Zuko and Sokka had forced her to watch too many Chinese dramas where the protagonist sees the love of their life in slow motion, because that was the only reason she could find that would explain the wind ruffling the girl’s clothes, the chiming bells and the bright smile that made her heart pick up speed, illuminated by the light of the rising sun behind her. It looked like a scene from a drama, not real life. She could practically feel Zuko astral projecting in the corner of the room just to make fun of her and force her to talk to this cute girl. _Take a risk, Mai_ , he’d say.

‘Good morning’, Mai said, trying her best to steel her face into her costumer service persona and trying not to look like she’d just seen one of the prettiest girls she’d ever set her eyes on.

‘Good morning to you too!’, the girl answered and oh fuck, her voice was sweet and bubbly and she seemed to be overflowing with energy and Mai gripped the edge of her apron.

‘How can I help you?’, Mai asked, keeping her voice as steady as possible.

‘Oh, I just found this shop on my way to university and I thought I’d try it!’, the pretty girl said. She smiled brightly and for the first time, Mai noticed her pastel pink shirt tucked into her light blue oversized jeans and the gigantic worms on a string she wore as earrings. Mai thought she looked exactly like someone coming to a teashop to ask for coffee. _And exactly like someone you’d like to kiss_ , a traitorous voice in her head supplied.

‘What would you like to try?’, Mai asked, trying her best not to stare at the other girl’s big brown eyes. She even wore pink eyeshadow. It looked fantastic.

‘Oh, what sorts of green tea do you have?’, the girl asked, and Mai raised an eyebrow in surprise. ‘I usually prefer just a regular _bancha_ or _genmaicha_ but I’m ready to try something new!’

Mai was even more surprised. She hadn’t expected this girl to know anything about tea.

‘We have a few more varieties’, Mai said, rattling off the menu piece by piece as she watched the girl’s face brighten. Mai smiled despite herself.

After the girl had chosen her tea (a new batch of _hōjicha_ that had just arrived yesterday), Mai started on brewing the tea carefully, while the girl looked at her from across the counter, her face interested.

‘You can sit down if you’d like’, Mai said, not looking up from where she was slowly steeping the tea leaves.

‘Can I stay here?’ the girl asked. Mai looked up sharply, feeling a light blush on her face.

‘You seem interesting’, the girl said simply, her smile still bright and wide. Mai stared at her lips for a second before she collected herself and nodded, trying her best not to show how glad she was.

 _Useless bisexual_ , her brain supplied.

 _Shut up_ , Mai thought.

The girl smiled even brighter, and Mai thought she’d just seen the fucking sun rise.

‘Thank you so much! I haven’t had any proper tea in a long while and watching people prepare tea is always half the fun of it!’, she said. Mai smiled softly, unable to stop herself.

‘I agree’, she said simply.

‘What’s your name? I’m Ty Lee!’, the girl said, and Mai almost dropped the hot water.

‘Mai’, she said, clearing her throat. Ty Lee. _Ty Lee_.

‘Nice to meet you, Mai!’, Ty Lee said, her eyes wide and happy.

‘Nice to meet you too’, Mai said lamely, unsure of what exactly to say.

‘Have you been working here long? You’re really good at this!’, Ty Lee said, and Mai bristled a bit at the compliment.

‘Two years’, she said curtly, not elaborating in fear of her saying something embarrassing.

Ty Lee nodded and leaned her elbows on the counter. Her wrists were covered in colourful woven bracelets and Mai’s focus zeroed in on a rainbow bracelet sitting above a bracelet with the colours of the pansexual flag on it. Her heart picked up speed and she frantically thought of a way to showcase her own queerness. She looked down at her apron and realised she’d accidentally put on Zuko’s. She smiled a bit at the array of rainbow pins Zuko had put on the collar and made a mental note to get Zuko some dark chocolate as thanks.

‘If you want, I can get you a chair’, Mai blurted out.

‘Huh?’, Ty Lee said. Mai realised that Ty Lee had been staring at her for a while now and she blushed under the other girl’s gaze.

‘A chair. For the counter? You don’t have to stand’, Mai explained, hoping her awkwardness wouldn’t scare Ty Lee away.

‘Oh! But you’ll have to stand!’

‘That’s okay’, Mai said.

‘No, don’t worry, I’ll stand with you.’

Mai nearly choked. The gesture itself was a bit silly but it reminded her of something star-crossed lovers said to each other. _Damn you and your gay dramas, Zuko_ , she thought again _. I’m turning mushy too_.

‘You don’t have to-‘, Mai started but Ty Lee raised a hand, smiling.

‘I want to. It wouldn’t be fair otherwise.’

‘Okay’, Mai said, a bit dumbfounded but unable to suppress a smile.

Ty Lee smiled impossibly brighter.

‘You’re cute’, she said, and Mai gasped out loud, feeling her face heat up. People didn’t call her cute often and she used to hate it but if Ty Lee said it, she found she didn’t mind so much.

‘I – thank you. Likewise- I mean. You. Are also cute. Cuter than me. I mean… Yes’, she said, stumbling over her words.

Ty Lee giggled, and Mai was so far gone that she thought about how much she’d like to hear that sound every day.

‘I’d definitely say that you are cuter than me’, Ty Lee said. ‘But thank you.’

Mai started, all her embarrassment forgotten.

‘Have you _seen_ yourself?’, she heard herself say. Ty Lee blinked, her smile suddenly less bright.

‘You’re so pretty you literally made my breath go away when you walked in’, Mai said. And then she thought _Oh fuck_. She hadn’t meant to sound so weird and creepy. Why was she even saying anything? She was never this forward with people.

Ty Lee was staring at her, her eyes wide and a bright blush on her cheeks. Even her blush was pink. Mai was really re-evaluating her stance on the colour.

‘Well you made my heart do flips, standing here and looking all goth and composed and beautiful’, Ty Lee said, and Mai wondered whether people could die from being complimented too much.

‘I didn’t even know hearts could do flips!’ Ty Lee continued. ‘I mean I can do flips, but my heart has never done that before. Maybe you’re an alien and you’re trying some weird tech on me’, she said. Mai stared at her, the tea forgotten.

‘I – _what_?’

‘Aliens. There all around us! Maybe you’re an alien, because you’re out of this world’, Ty Lee said, grinning. Mai never thought a pickup line that terrible would make her blush so hard.

‘That was a terrible line’, she said, rolling her eyes.

‘You liked it’, Ty Lee said, happily. ‘You’re smiling.’

‘Shut up, I’m not’, Mai said, smiling.

‘You are!’

‘Am not.’

‘Are!’

Mai sighed, rolling her eyes again for good measure. She was still smiling.

‘Hah!’, Ty Lee said, leaning over to point a finger accusingly at Mai’s face. Mai looked away, fighting and losing against the smile on her face.

‘See?’, Ty Lee said, smugly. She leaned forward a bit and softly booped Mai’s nose with her index finger, the smug look on her face melting into something softer. Mai felt warmth run through her body. She opened her mouth to say something when she was interrupted by the ringing of Ty Lee’s phone.

‘Oh, come on’, Ty Lee murmured, drawing back from the counter and leaving Mai aching for her touch. _She just touched your nose for fuck’s sake_ , Mai thought. _Calm down_.

Ty Lee rummaged around in her bag, looking at her phone and frowning.

‘I have to go’, she said, and Mai’s heart plummeted.

‘You haven’t had your tea’, she said, desperate to get her to stay.

‘I’ll come back!’, Ty Lee said, looking up at Mai with determination in her eyes. ‘I promise. I just have work now, but I’ll definitely come back tomorrow!’

Mai felt her heart skip a beat.

‘Okay’, she said softly, a returning to her face.

‘Okay’, Ty Lee echoed. She smiled at Mai one last time, looking longingly at the tea and then turned around to head out of the shop. Mai watched her back, noting the intricate braid Ty Lee wore her dark hair in. It felt wrong to watch her go. Mai didn’t want her to leave. The thought scared her.

Composing herself and letting the mask of costumer service slip back over her face she returned to her own tea, realising that she’d let it stew for way too long and bemoaning the loss of a perfectly good cup of tea. When the _furin_ in the entrance chimed once more, Mai looked up again, expecting a stranger.

It was like a déja-vu as Ty Lee stepped into the shop, hurrying over to Mai and holding out her hand with a piece of paper in it.

‘Hi?’, Mai asked.

‘Hi! I didn’t want to wait until next time to talk to you so, here. My number. Text me. I need to find out whether you’re actually an alien’, Ty Lee said, her cheeks tinted with a pale pink blush.

Mai blushed as well.

‘Oh. Yes. Important research’, she said, trying to mask her elatedness with a joke.

‘Very important’, Ty Lee said. Mai reached out to grab the piece of paper from Ty Lee and their hands brushed. Mai felt her hand tingle and a shiver run up her spine.

‘Anyway, I’ll see you soon!’, Ty Lee said, turning around and hurrying out of the shop and jogging down the street.

Mai stood frozen behind the counter, staring after Ty Lee for a while. Finally, she looked at the paper with Ty Lee’s phone number. She quickly pulled out her own phone, typed it in and started texting without a second thought.

To: Ty Lee, 08:35: hi this is mai. im definitely not an alien, could an alien text?

From: Ty Lee, 08:40: hiii!!! (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧ ✧ﾟ･: *ヽ(◕ヮ◕ヽ)

From: Ty Lee, 08:41: that’s exactly what an alien would say!! the mystery deepens!!! ლ(´ڡ`ლ)

Mai rolled her eyes at the excessive amount of emojis and smiled at her phone. Maybe today wasn’t quite as mediocre as she had feared.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed! Let me know what you think! Kudos and Comments are always appreciated!! If you want to talk to me, come yell at me on tumblr @apprecimation (for wlw week) and usually @flameyohotdamn


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